The Crawlers
by FrostedFanfic
Summary: The world is deserted. Quiet. Desolate. Craig Tucker is one of the few people left alive on this planet. To scavenge for food or rest means risking your life. For the on-dead now rule.
1. Chapter 1

I sucked air in through my teeth, creating a whistle that was carried away by the wind. I listened to the cracked sound of the music emitting from my MP3. My boots hitting the ground, creating muffled echoes that rang throughout the empty streets. The world was quite, beautiful, peaceful. To an outsider this would be picture perfect. Over grown grass, vines climbing the sides of glass skyscrapers, Rabbits, Tigers, Elephants and Tasmanian devils' running around in harmony. Not to mention that since they broke out of the Zoo I've never missed a meal. I would love to say I continued on my serene walk around the deserted city and continued on with my life but no. This is the apocalypse baby, shit happens.

A scream tore through the air, _fuck they defiantly heard that_. I turned around and ran towards the sound of the screams, my feet barely touching the ground. Once I skidded around the corner of a high-rise office building I saw five different boys backed into a corner being surrounded by… _zombies_.

Yuck, how clique, _zombies_ , like seriously? I mean _really_ , couldn't have I been more original and called them, I dunno, the _Venoms_ or the _Crawlers_? But I guess we're stuck with this shitty name, I'm sure the rest of the survivors have named them this too.

The zombies were limping and throwing themselves at the boys, their grey skin dripping off the bones to reveal chalk white skulls beneath. The growls that they let out would turn your blood to ice. I headed towards them, silently cocking my gun, one of the boys was fighting furiously with a splintered bat and another two were pushing them back with javelins. They were doing well but the amount of Zombies outnumbered them. "Come on Khal just kill it already or we're all gonna fucking die!" one of the boys screamed, he was cowering behind a thin boy in a green jacket and red hair who seemed thoroughly pissed.

"Shut the fuck up, Fatass!" He yelled back, his face contorted into a grimace as his spear slid through the empty eye socket of one of the monsters.

A small blond quaked on the ground clutching his hair. "Fuck. FUCK. FUUUUCK!"

Another blond in an orange parka who was swinging the bat back and forth was bellowing at the zombies. "GO TO FUCKING HELL YOU PIECES OF SHIT!"

"OH MY GOD!" another screeched, "STOP FUCKING SWEARING!"

I sighed, as fun as it was to watch them squabble in a _literally_ life threatening situation, I would have to eventually start to save them, y'know…for _moral_.

Bang, bang, bang. Shot after shot I fired. One down. Two down. Three down. Four down. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. And ten. Their bodies littered the ground. The five boys looked up at me slowly, then down at the bodies and then back at me. Silence. Then one of the boys threw his head back and laughed loud and fiercely. "Ha! Take that you un-dead pieces of shit! How d'ya like being dead now?" He kicked at one of the bodies laughing hysterically as it rolled on its side lifelessly. The red head, Khal, stepped forward.

"Uh, don't mind Kenny he's not a big Zombie fan." He stuck out his hand, "Kyle, ( _ohhhhhh_ ) I thank you greatly for saving our lives." I nodded stiffly.

"Mn, No problem." We stared at each other awkwardly.

"And your name is…?"

"Mn, Craig Tucker, Zombie killer at your service."

"I LIKE THIS GUY!" Kenny, who was doing the chicken dance over the dead un-dead bodies, called out. We lapsed back into silence the wind blowing around us.

"Well, um, thanks again for saving us, we'll just be, on our way…" Kyle trailed off. "Come on guys lets go, not much further." My hand shot out at the speed of light, grabbing Kyle by the back of his collar.

"Don't bother. You're heading to the safe zone right?" Kyle gulped.

"Y-yeah…"

"It was broken into two years ago. No one got out. And it's obvious you're all useless at fighting- I mean he's pretty good," I gestured towards Kenny who was now reciting the national anthem, one leg on top of a Zombies head and one hand over his heart, his eyes closed. "But the rest of you need help, you're comin' with me."

"Are you sure?" He earned a short jab in the ribs from a tall black haired boy, Kyle rolled his eyes and continued, "We're not the fastest runners all we'll do is slow you down."

"If you don't talk to me then we're cool. Also,"- I strapped my gun on to my back, and dusting down my jacket-"I give the orders, what I say goes." Kenny jumped of the Zombie (not before repetitively jumping on its face) ran up to my side, spread his legs into the at-ease position and saluted.

"Yessir."


	2. Chapter 2

They chattered ceaselessly behind me as we all trooped back towards the bunker. The buildings and plants were starting to cast long shadows across our path while the sun set in the distance, reflecting pinks, red and oranges off the glass buildings. Piles of red, rusted cars were stacked leaning like the tower of Pisa, they really helped create the 'abandoned' ambiance. The sound of our combined footfall and speech formed into a faint buzz. I was once again in my own world, a place where I could think clearly.

What was I doing? I fucked up royally this time, it was too late to send them back around and pretend I never saw them. I know from experience that Humans are much more dangerous than Zombies. You know what you're getting with Zombies but humans are unpredictable. You can never tell where they stand. They can lie steal and murder just so that there are fewer mouths to feed. And yet here I was directing not one, not two but _five_ of them towards my bunker. I placed a hand to my forehead, at least they're all shit at fighting…

I lifted my head. The bunker was looming closer I can't turn back now.

I ignored there numerous questions that they threw at me as we reached the hotel. The words No Vacancy blinked above our heads. I ran my hand along the bricked wall of the building until I reached the metal scaffolding. I slung my gun holster around and onto my back. Grabbing one of the metal bars I swung my leg over and heaved my body up, the others followed suite. Except for Cartman and Tweek. Cartman's fat ass had to be hauled up by Stan, Kyle, Kenny and I. Tweek was just too weak to climb up, all I had to do was monkey grip his arm and yank him up, light as a feather. Not surprising really considering we're in the apocalypse, _duh_.

We continued in this fashion, proceeding higher and higher until we reached the tenth landing. The boys lay in a tired sweaty lump on the landing while I walked over to the wall and slid open one of the windows. Getting inside the actual hotel proved to be a more challenging task than I had initially expected. I had previously covered all existing windows of this building in hard industrial floorboards, to keep out Zombies, obviously. The window that we were stuck at was the one I had to slide into every day through a small crack between two planks of wood. It wasn't difficult for Kenny, Tweek, Stan, Kyle or I it was, you guessed to, Cartman. Once again with his big, stupid fat ass he slowed us down. I was beginning to think that pushing Cartman out and onto the streets below was quite an appealing idea.

When Cartman finally came loose we continued our way down a dark corridor that held virtually no light. I only realised that no one else knew the maze of corridors like I do when I started hearing strings of profanities echoing behind me. When I finally reached my bunker I waited for others to arrive. Once they did I slid my key, which I keep hanging around my neck, into the grimy lock. The door swung open to reveal the 'Bunker'.

The Bunker consisted of one L couch, a small cupboard, a bathroom the size of a doormat and a mini set of stairs that led to a kitchen suspended above the rest of the room. I chucked my keys onto the couch and slammed the door shut with a bang. The boys splintered off in search of I dunno, adventure? Buried treasure?

"Ugh, Your home is a wreck… you could've have at least cleaned the bathroom!" I heard Kenny call out, I turned on him.

"Had I known I was going to have guests at three o'clock in the morning I'm sure I would've."

"Oohh we have a snarky one don't we?" I ignored him and proceeded to collect extra blankets and pillows from the cupboard. Once I had set down all the materials every single one of the boys promptly claimed a space on the couch, a pillow and fell asleep. I heaved a deep sigh, grabbed one of the scratchy woollen blankets and dragged it upstairs to the kitchen. There was no way I was gonna sleep with those bimbos, I swear the fat one, Cartman, would likely molest me. I was prepared to sleep on top of the stove to avoid that.

The floorboards creaked under my weight as I slouched up towards the kitchen. The floor would have sufficed and maybe the table top, if it wasn't covered in blood that is. I threw the blanket over the hot plates and scrambled on. Resting my head on an up-turned cardboard crate I closed my eyes and listened to the haunting cries of the Zombies.

They banged against the metal gate that covered my doors and the pulled at the industrial wood that covered my windows. I watched as their hands slipped under the cracks in the window and clawed at the wood. Sighing, I turned away from the window. After two years of research I had come to the conclusion that they gained a specific amount of strength after a meal that provided enough stamina. Since I was the only survivor, until eight hours ago that is, they hadn't had a meal in a very long time. So the amount of defences that surrounded the bunker sufficed.

Just as I was nodding off I felt a soft tug on my sleeve, my eyes flew open and I spun off the stove grabbing my gun (that was hidden safely under my pillow), pointing it directly between the eyes of… Tweek? "What the hell dude?! What are you doing up?" I hissed lowering my gun. He just bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, obviously trying to banish the tears that had formed while I had held a weapon of death to his forehead. "Ugh what do you want Tweek?" I groaned, this was becoming bothersome, maybe I should have left them to deal with Zombies.

Tweek just gestured towards the sounds coming from outside, jumping at each bang or growl. "Scared?" He nodded. "Well what do you want me to do about it?" Tweek looked down at his feet, even in the dark I could sense his unease washing off him waves. "Twitch-a-lot it's 4 in the morning, I'm sure you can survive, but if you don't get enough sleep _that's_ the real killer."

I hopped back onto the stove and snuggled down listening to Tweek's footsteps patter out the kitchen and down the stairs then – "WHAT THE FUCK DUDE?!" – Trip over Kyle. This will take a while to get used to.

The sunlight filtered through the planks of wood, my eyes cracked open. I threw myself to the side of the couch, which I promptly realised wasn't my couch when I hit the kitchen floor. I blinked up at the ceiling… _owwwwwwww_. I slowly pushed myself onto my knees, steadied my legs up and hobbled over to the cabinet to scrounge for a decadent breakfast, maybe tuna?

The metal top peeled off slowly as I avoided contact with my figures, don't need those Zombies to turn up again at the smell of my blood. The smell of canned fish wafted up into my nostrils, it smelt like heaven, it's incredible that after two years on rations anything will seem delicious and edible.

Before I could even take a spoonful of it into my mouth Kenny swung into the kitchen, his eyes bright and wild.

"Foooooooooooooooooood!" He lunged himself at me, arms stretched out wide, I grabbed the meat knife on my right and held it up to his neck.

"Don't. Even. Think. About. It," Kenny put his hands up in the air in surrender.

"Jeez dude fine I won't take your dead fish." My eyes narrowed as I placed the knife back down on the table, never looking away from the wild blond.

"It's not just the fish, I'm not ready to trust you at all, any of you for that matter."

"Ooh so mysterious. Dare I ask why?" I clucked my tongue, obviously these kids have been privileged for the last two years.

"I've been alone for almost two years, do you understand the excitement I experienced when I saw you five? I acted on impulse, not my best move. However I would not hesitate to throw you all back out there if you dare mess up."

"Okay man, cool, cool. You didn't need to present me with a monolog though," I have never wanted to strangle someone so bad. "Oh and Cartman ate all your previsions last night, except for that." He gestured at my tuna can.

I froze.

"CARTMANNNNNNNN!" I screamed, sprinting down stairs to pummel that big, fat oaf. Kenny's laughter followed me. The boy's head popped out, up from a half demolished pillow fort.

"Wazzar-?" Grabbing his collar and pulling him up to my face so our noses almost touched.

"You piece of shit. Are you some kind of stupid cartoon character that can inhale anything put in front of him? You have no idea what I had to go through to get that. Now we have to go collect more resources," I pulled away from his face, his breath stank too much for me to handle. And threw him back on the ground. "Get dressed, all of you, we're going on a shopping trip thanks to this idiot."

Stan shook his head, "don't you think that's too dange–"

"NOW!" I barked, sending them all to run in order behind me.

We trooped out of the hotel silently, every time one of them would open their mouths to say something I would shoot them a dark glare making them quickly shut up their mouths. The early morning sun light glared off Starks Pond bathing the area in a cool glow. I used this time to once again second guess my decision of saving the boys.

 _Of course the day I get new 'housemates' I run out of food._ I shivered at the thought. _Costco was a nightmare when I first went there, everyone was trying to get something and fighting over it. Over 200 people were trampled to death within those few days. Woolworths was worse and don't get me_ started _on Walmart._

It was a half an hour long walk of uneasy silence and awkward glances when we reached the string of deserted coffee venders, collapsing stores, abandoned and decayed retail and big box stores. This place was one of the most dangerous places of South Park. Because of the panic at the beginning of this horror story everyone rushed here to gather provisions. Not everyone got out alive, the Zombies found the crowds of people and began on of their first devastating rampages. This seemingly quiet deserted market place was in reality littered with Zombies, hiding, waiting, planning for attack.

We edged slowly into a rotting building that seemed to resemble a Walmart, inside wasn't the sparkling clean, with shinny sparkling floors and huge ceilinged building that used to stand here years ago. The escalators were still, their plastic handrails melted, the air-con ducts were hanging from the walls and the crumbling ceiling was caved in revealing a gaping hole, serving as an amateur sky-light… save our souls.


End file.
